NY chicken lover!!!!

[pharmchickrnmom]

Morning all. Can anyone tell me why one of my roosters would pick on a single hen and almost scalp her for no reason? One of my older barred rock hens was hiding in my husbands shed last night and when he picked her up he could see she had been ripped up on the top of her head and neck. We brought her in and I treated her injuries and she is resting comfortably in a cage downstairs. The swelling has gone down and although the wound looks nasty and painful, the vetrx is doing its job. Sprayed it on again this morning and dh will do it when I get home. I am not sure if its roger or bill who did it but I am trying to figure out the why. The boys are 6 months old now (jerk stage) but I havent seen them get like this before. Should I just separate them from the coops for a while in their own sepate pens or will this just further frustrate them? My other roos I had never did this. They were jerks in other ways but never hurt any of the hens. I should mention that the boys are in with the older girls (over 3) and for the most part the girls are keeping them in check. They have been mated a few times but go after the boys when they are annoyed by them. Thoughts would be appreciated. I would hate to have to cull either one as they have great body type and markings matching breed standards and I would like to keep them for breeding.

Off to another long day at work.

 

[armorfirelady]

ok, another quitter puts me down to 12 eggs in in incubator at day 8. Poop.

So, Garden pests, What kind of animal uproots plants? Like totally uproots them, barely eats them and walks away?! Something uprooted my brocolli, my collards and my raspberry bushes! Some of these were in buckets so I don't think it was the voles.

Skunk or squirrel was my thought. Squirrels are trying to bury their stash for winter and have been digging in my pots :/

 

[Lynzi777]

If this little silkie chick hatched yesterday afternoon and almost completely dry, walking around in there still, when should I remove it from the incubator and into the brooder? I placed a tiny bit of food in there in a shallow dish but I doubt it'll eat any of it this soon. It just seems to be chirping a lot. Maybe it's just lonely waiting for the others.

 

[Coupe]

Anyone with some trapping experience in ulster county want to trap 2 foxes, that has been terrorizing my chickens 2 days in a row? They came twice yesterday once at 5:45am and once before 9:30pm and again this morning at 5:45.
They are driving me insane and are killing my young chickens

 

[miquwid]

Anyone with some trapping experience in ulster county want to trap 2 foxes, that has been terrorizing my chickens 2 days in a row? They came twice yesterday once at 5:45am and once before 9:30pm and again this morning at 5:45.
They are driving me insane and are killing my young chickens

Well it can be hard to trap foxes I guess grays are easier, but regardless double check state law because I believe that you cannot trap it as that may lead to the spread of disease and giving someone else a fox problem if you relocated. As a matter of fact we were told to shoot them. If this is uncomfortable for you than my other suggestion would be to call someone who specializes in this.

Do you lock up your chickens? What time if you do? and what time do you let them back out in the morning?

 

[ChickPrincess]

Busy crotching xmas gifts and working every shift I can get. Hope everyone has a god day.

I really must know... how do you crotch a gift???

 

[ChickPrincess]

ok, another quitter puts me down to 12 eggs in in incubator at day 8. Poop.

So, Garden pests, What kind of animal uproots plants? Like totally uproots them, barely eats them and walks away?! Something uprooted my brocolli, my collards and my raspberry bushes! Some of these were in buckets so I don't think it was the voles.

I think a raccoon will do that. Not sure though.

 

[Breella]

Duane attacked me today. Nothing serious. Two of the girls had a dust up over some scratch I was laying down for them and he was not happy and came over and I think he scratched my leg (I think if it was a beak wound he would have done more damage.) I chased him around the run and kicked him gently a few times.

Also, his crowing sounds like he's gargling water. Not every time though. Could it just be that he has drunk some water shortly before crowing? Or am I seeing the onset of some URI?

 

[ChickPrincess]

Morning all. Can anyone tell me why one of my roosters would pick on a single hen and almost scalp her for no reason? One of my older barred rock hens was hiding in my husbands shed last night and when he picked her up he could see she had been ripped up on the top of her head and neck. We brought her in and I treated her injuries and she is resting comfortably in a cage downstairs. The swelling has gone down and although the wound looks nasty and painful, the vetrx is doing its job. Sprayed it on again this morning and dh will do it when I get home. I am not sure if its roger or bill who did it but I am trying to figure out the why. The boys are 6 months old now (jerk stage) but I havent seen them get like this before. Should I just separate them from the coops for a while in their own sepate pens or will this just further frustrate them? My other roos I had never did this. They were jerks in other ways but never hurt any of the hens. I should mention that the boys are in with the older girls (over 3) and for the most part the girls are keeping them in check. They have been mated a few times but go after the boys when they are annoyed by them. Thoughts would be appreciated. I would hate to have to cull either one as they have great body type and markings matching breed standards and I would like to keep them for breeding.

Off to another long day at work.

Could it have been accidental? One of my naughty roos holds the hen's head with his beak while mating and sometimes very roughly. Maybe he held on too hard and ripped her flesh? Poor girl.
Could it have possibly been another hen?

 

[ChickPrincess]

Egg production is at an all-time high. I got 35 eggs yesterday! Wahoo! Egg customers are very happy.

I'm getting very frustrated over searching for a CNA course that doesn't run during the day. They are ALL given in the daytime. Kind of hard when you work during the day. And I need my daytime job. We can't do without the income and it pays our health insurance. I'm thinking of looking for a home health aide job that I could do evenings and weekends and go to school during the day (it's only an 8 week course for CNA, but then I'm thinking of following with nursing school). Then I worry that what if I hate it, and now I've quit my job at the school that I've had for 8 years?

Someone please tell me what to do.